Golding calls for peaceful election

President of the People's National Party (PNP), Mark Golding, has called for political energy to be driven by love instead of hostility.

Golding, speaking at a mass rally in Portland on Saturday night, emphasised the need for a peaceful electoral process where the people's choice is respected at the polls.

"Let us have a peaceful election. Let the people's voice be heard loud and clear," the PNP president said.

The PNP has been criticised from his main campaign song, We're Blood and Fire Comrades, with detractors suggesting that it could fan the flames of electoral violence. On Saturday night, Golding said his party's approach of politics is characterised by love.

"We are blood and fire comrades. We approach the politics with passion. We approach the politics with full commitment. But the word is love. We nuh deal with violence. We nuh fraid of nobody, but we nuh deal with violence," he said.

The PNP president called on Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Leader, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness, to refrain from spreading misinformation, accusing the party of wrongly tying recent shootings in central Kingston to political motives.

"In central Kingston, there have been a couple of incidents of shooting. The police have not said that any political motivation was involved," Golding said.

He said that based on the intelligence which has reached his party, the second incident, in which shots were reportedly fired in the direction of Member of Parliament Donovan Williams, was gang-related. Golding also said the first shooting, which took place while a JLP meeting was in progress, "had nothing to do with politics either".

"Yet, the prime minister and [Dr Christopher] Tufton coming out and insinuating that [it] is political violence, as if they want to set up a pretext for some kind of reprisal against us. Leave those talk alone. That doesn't help Jamaica move forward. Let us have a peaceful election," Golding said.